Use of GIS Technology in the Implementation of Alcoholic Drinks Control Act: A Case Study of Karima Location, Othaya, Kenya

The Alcoholic Drinks Control Act was signed by former President Kibaki and became a law in Kenya in 2010 which provided some limits on alcohol consumption. This was meant to curb excessive alcohol consumption by many youths who were consuming illicit brews which were resulting to death. The Act stipulated that no alcohol drinking place should be within 300m from any learning school and the operation time was set to be between 5pm to 11pm. In the initial implementation of this Act, enforcers only considered the operations time. This resulted to this law been partially implemented since the restriction of spatial distance of 300m was not taken into consideration. In conjunction, the issue of revoking licenses for bars operating within a distance of 300m from schools also came into been and this affected many bars in Kenya. This necessitated the need for thorough inspection which called for consideration of the optimal routes that law enforcers such as police officers, County Commissioners and other Administrative officers would use when carrying out the inspection and patrol. Moreover, some bars operators who were ordered to evacuate, claimed that their businesses were not within 300m from schools. This issue made the work of licensing of bars difficult and emphasized for the need to determine regions or areas suitable for bars operations. The solution to these conflicts and challenges associated with the implementation of this Act was only arrived at, through effective handling of spatial data related to bars and schools. GIS technology was advocated since it has capability of mapping and carrying out geographical analyses related to bars and schools. It provided tools for buffering which generated regions or areas around schools using a proximity distance of 300m. The buffered regions assisted in performing further analyses aimed at determining all bars and pubs within 300m from schools. Moreover, further spatial analyzes were performed and determined suitable regions where bars and pubs would be operated away from schools. This aided in the licensing of retailers dealing with wines and spirits shops as well as bars and pubs. In addition, point distance method of determining Euclidian distances was used to provide linear measurements (distance) from bars to nearby schools. Maps, graphs and reports containing information related to bars were generated that would assist in the Implementation of Alcoholic Drinks Control Act.